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Dungeon Crawl


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BlueSlime

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

You see Hadrian striding forward towards D'Graz, determined to end this conflict as quickly as possible by striking at the heart of the evil in their midst. From the stairwell below, you hear gibbering and drooling sounds, and the scrape of talons on stone.

"Ghouls..." you gasp, even as you struggle against the bony grip of the skeletons.

"They'll be here... nnff... any moment!" Elise says, weighed down by the two minons pinning her arms to the floor.

You try to summon every scrap of strength that you have to break free, but the necromancer's poison that Osvar instilled you with has sapped what little you had. Bone claws rake across you and tear into tatters the rest of your already ruined dress. You are left naked save for your soft boots and underwear, and the scratches do more damage to your sore and aching body.

Elise also takes many scratches, but gives some back as she thrashes more successfully than you, her eyes glowing pale purple and feline fangs visibly showing in her mouth. One of the skeletons is thrown off and Elise manages to get off of her back and up on her knees, with still one skeleton raking at her.

Ariel takes 3 damage and is still grappled. (3/18 HP)

Elise takes 3 damage and is no longer grappled. (6/19 HP)

Hadrian moves quickly but not quickly enough for D'Graz to finish his spell. The skull token around the Countess' neck glows bright as the two eye sockets swirl with green flame. Suddenly the swooned girl's eyes open, but her irises are grey and bloodshot. She hisses and snarls and breaks her bonds with inhuman strength. She leaps into the path of Hadrian's strike and his advance comes to a halt.

"And now my curse is complete!" D'Graz laughs. "That fool count has served his purpose and his geas that forced me to work for him is undone by his death - which you so kindly provided! Now you can slay his wife as well if you have strength enough to do so! I have the book I sought, this pitiful county has no more use to me."

"You shall not escape justice, necromancer!" Hadrian vows, then steeling himself he rushes forward, shield in front of him, intending to brush the countess out of the way so that he might smite the fiendish villain.

The countess has other ideas though, and is not the fragile thing she had once been prior to the necromancer's curse. With unholy strength, she bats Hadrian to the side, and he goes flying into the wall before landing in a heap at its base, his vision dazed and some new fresh wounds appearing on his brow to overlap the terrible ones he has already received tonight. Only the strength of his conviction keeps him going.

Hadrian takes four damage. (5/23 HP)

"Impudent fool!" D'Graz continues, quite clearly enjoying the sound of his own voice. "Like all idiot crusaders, you think that you can muscle through arcane defenses, as if your pathetic gods, laws, and ideals could match against the raw power of magic! My spells are strong enough to deny even Death itself! But ah, now I hear the sound of my apprentice and my ghoul servants coming up from the depths to finish you off. I shall leave this keep in his capable hands, and allow the Dalish king to waste resources quelling the undeath of this land. I shall use this book to unleash necromantic rites so terrible, that they have not been seen since the rise of the First Necromancer! You shall not live to see it! But perhaps Osvar shall put you to use as a death knight. Your spirit can serve us for eternity!"

Decision time!

You feel that it is very unlikely that you will have the strength to break free of these skeletons on your own, though you may still struggle as fiercely as you can manage. It will be impossible to play your flute or swing your sword in this situation, not until you break free. (A)

1. Call for aid from Hadrian (this will override Hadrian's decision). He will direct his attacks against the skeletons that threaten to overpower you.

2. Call for aid from Elise (this will override Elise's decision.) She will use her mace to break apart the skeletons that threaten to overpower you, though she may open herself up to attack from the skeleton still raking at her.

3. Let them both do their own actions and depend upon yourself to break free. Your own strength has left you, but you know that you've been touched by dragon magic. You can feel the mark on your shoulder as if it were ice being held against your skin, so cold that it feels like burning. There's raw magic there, like one of your songs in physical form - though far far more powerful. If you left yourself open to it and willed it to take over, perhaps you just might be able to fight your way free. It's a slim hope, and even IF it does work, there's likely going to be a permanent consequence for opening yourself to a dragon spell. That's the stupid-ass shit that kobold shamans do. And they're friggin' crazy.

4. (Suggest something else, but remember, you're grappled and ebbed of strength...)

~~~

Elise is right beside the door and can hear the approach of things that do not sound friendly. A whisper from her Goddess suggests the obvious - that they are more necromantic abominations created by this D'Graz and his apprentice minion. They could be here at any moment, but there's still this one skeleton to contend with and if she doesn't defeat it, then it will continue to rake at her, and she is already feeling quite weak from all that has occurred tonight. She is truly on her last legs, but she cannot give up. So much depends on her perseverance. (B)

1. Smash this remaining skeleton. It's not the most robust of skeletons and your mace is ideal for clobbering bones into dust. If you can defeat it in one swing, that should give you enough time to then go and bar the door or help one of your friends.

2. Ignore the skeleton and bar the door now. If those reinforcements get into this tower room, then you will all be overwhelmed for certain. You'll take the pain if necessary and just pray that you have the fortitude to stay on your feet.

3. Invoke your goddess to heal your wounds. This will leave yourself open to another raking attack by the skeleton, but you're hoping that your goddess can heal you more than the skeleton can harm you - naturally you're assuming that the connection to your divine patron is still strong enough to work. Your will has been strained and your spirit can only channel so much without the need for rest. Provided that this works and you heal well, you'll attempt to bar the door next round.

4. (Suggest another action or a different target for one of the above actions)

~~~

Hadrian never doubts the might of Jorn, but he is concerned that his mortal shell may simply refuse to obey his will's commands before too long. His flesh is ripped in many places, his head feels as though it has been hammered by mauls, his stomach and blood churn with nauseousness from the ghoul rot that courses through him, and yet still he faces foe after foe. (C)

1. Fight the Countess. She's just another ghoul under D'Graz' control. She'll have to be slain before he can get to the necromancer. He's deliberately using her as his shield and his weapon by proxy.

2. Aim for the skull token around the Countess' neck. It's obviously some foul magic that is enabling a part of D'Graz' plan. Perhaps if you could sunder it or remove it from the Countess' body, he would not be able to control the ghouled woman.

3. You need more allies. The Countess' priority seems to be standing between you and the necromancer. She may not press her attack if you rush to the side and strike at the bonds holding Reina, the elf, in place.

4. You need to prevent reinforcements. Retreat to the door and bar it to delay the others and allow you and your allies to concentrate on finishing this fight uninterrupted.

5. (Suggest something else for Hadrian to do.)
 

maxentius-septimus

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

5Can Elise use an invocation to heal Ariel. If so that should hopefully also heal the drug effect. Then Ariel may be strong enough to break free and heal someone. Hadrian should either bar the door or free Reina. I'd say door first. Afterward we should strike the skull token.
 
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MrMe

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

A3 - desperate times...
B2 - We really dont need more enemies
C3 - But we do need more friends
 

tomaito89

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

Finding it hard to think and/or be witty, so I'll bandwagon for now. Let's hope we don't die.
 
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BlueSlime

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

Okay, A3, B2, and C3 are the choices.

You listen to the rhythm of the dragonsong within you. You ignore the pain of the skeletons' claws, ripping at your clothes and skin. They tear at you, but though the song falters, it does not stop. You can feel the music reverberate through your soul, your mind, and lastly, your body. The song exits you in a shout - a roar. Flames erupt from your mouth, crackling and snapping the animated bones that have assailed you in the wake of the inferno that has been breathed upon them. The skeletons crumble apart and are flung away from you, leaving you to twist and flail and screech from the unstoppable and awesome force of the dragonspell inside of you.

Ariel takes a final 1 damage from the last attacks of the skeletons. (2/18 HP)

As this occurs, Elise runs to the door, slamming it in the face of Osvar and a pack of slavering ghouls. She drops the bar down just in time before the skeletons slam into her, raking at her lightly armored body. She rounds on them and endures their claws enough to lash out with her mace and cave in one of their skulls.

On the other side of the door, she can hear a frustrated acolyte curse.

"Bring the door down!"

Raking, razor sharp claws begin to shred and slam the door.

Elise bars the door and defeats a skeleton with a counter attack. Elise takes 1 damage (5/19 HP)

Seeing the need to help Reina from her bonds, Hadrian circles away from the Countess and brings his mighty sword down upon the captive elf's chains. They snap under his blows, freeing the elf warrior, who stands quickly by his side.

"That is twice now you have freed me from the necromancer's bondage. I owe you a great debt," she says, putting her hand on Hadrian's bloodied arm.

"Save it for later, I've a necromancer to kill," Hadrian answers, his eyes not leaving the crouched Countess-ghoul. Meanwhile, D'Graz, with the book of ROse in his hands, moves to the open window arch and speaks a word of dark power. Something large screeches in response just outside, and a dark shape with a whoosh of air being swept away by massive wings rushes by.

"You cannot kill me, paladin! I am master of Death itself, and I have accomplished what I came to this backwater keep for. The book is mine, and once again the Art of the Black Gates shall bring about an undead kingdom, and I shall sit upon its throne! Now I leave you to the tender mercies of my acolyte and his ghouls, not the least of which is my especially prepared Christobel. You have already seen her superior unholy strength, which belies her slender form. She is also possessed of an intellect and cunning that I daresay are greater in her state of undeath than ever the little waif managed in the blush of life."

The whooshing air draws closer, and beyond the window is the dark shadowy form of a giant bat, easily the size of a horse, it is a twisted creature that no doubt has been the product of necromantic sorcery. D'Graz gives a bellowing laugh.

"Perhaps before I go, one final spell." D'Graz raises his wand, and it begins to glow an eerie green yet again. "This one to --"

*THUNK*

Reina has taken the time to retrieve her knives as the villain pontificated, and chose this moment to fling one of the knives at him, burying it neatly in his hand, forcing him to drop his wand to the floor and then stare numbly at his impaled palm for a moment before a cry of agonizing pain develops.

"Nice throw," Hadrian compliments.

"I was aiming for his throat," Reina hisses.

His face twisted in fury, D'Graz points a gnarled finger at Hadrian and Reina with his remaining good hand, the one holding the book, and barks out a final order to the Countess.

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

He then steps out of the window and onto the bat, leaving his wand behind but clutching the book and his wounded hand as the creature flies off into the night.

The countess advances, the skull chain glowing the same eerie green as the wand.

---

Meanwhile, you, Ariel the Bard, are crouching low to the ground. Words fail you at this time. You feel yourself thinking not in human concepts but solely in the nature of songs - specifically dragon songs. Every thought is a spell, every desire a driving need compelled by enchantment. The world is an illusion made real only by your notice. You are the very force that defines life through your ability to destroy it. You are the might and song of the dragon.

But your weak body of flesh is not designed to contain such greatness. You can feel with uncompromising certainty that the power you have chosen to unleash by tapping into the dragonspell can and WILL rip your pitiful form asunder unless you ride out this wave and CONTROL it somehow. You must alter yourself so that you can handle this change. You must alter your body, your mind and your soul, permanently. How you do this so that you might survive having used a dragonspell ONCE, is up to you... (A,B, and C)

A - You must change your body...

1. Your skin becomes red and scaley in most places.

2. Your body will radiate a warmth always. People will notice this. You will be doubly uncomfortable in the heat.

3. You will grow a lizard's tail, tiny dragon horns, and your fingers and toes will have claws (you won't be able to wear normal boots.

B - You must change your mind...

1. Your thoughts are always about how you look and how you are perceived. You must be considered the fairest and most beautiful of all, and given absolute deference and respect. Anything less and you will get angry enough to desire misfortune and grief to those who fail to acknowledge your greatness.

2. Your thoughts are always about your affluence. You must have gold and jewels and things of great beauty and worth. You must have them near you or in a safe place somewhere that you can travel to often and sleep upon. The wealth will never be enough, you must always seek out more. But the hoard you collect will reflect and justify your greatness, and woe be to any who would take even a single coin from you.

3. Your thoughts are always about defeating a worthy challenge. Your greatness must be justified by crippling, crushing, or cowing others into submission. You must seek out a challenge by combat. To not do so will only build the hunger and bloodlust inside of you. The tokens of your conquests, be they the blades, staves or skulls of your fallen foes, are the only things that will confirm your greatness. No half-measures for you, when you defeat someone, their life, if they still have it, must be ruined or permanently altered for the worst. Only by defeating you should they hope to hang on to what they hold dear.

C - You must change your soul...

1. Your alignment becomes chaotic, you have contempt for the order of mankind's cities and wouldn't miss it if it all just burned to the ground. The concept of any law is rubbish. Every being has the sole right to fight for its own ideas of freedom, and has the right to enforce its will upon another. If someone has a problem with your actions, they can either fight you or get the hell out of your lair. Your motto is to look out only for your own interests, and you embrace a wild, mercurial, and even contradictory existence, while rejecting anyone who seeks to build something that would last beyond their own lifetime.

2. Your alignment becomes evil. This would be easiest, would it not? Already your dragon desires of the mind force you to put yourself first. Doing so without a 'human' conscience is the natural choice. Revel in the pain you will surely cause. A dragonspell is a force of nature, it is not beholden to sympathy.

3. Your alignment becomes lawful. The law as you make it, but law nonetheless. Let mankind have its cities, so long as it pays you your proper dues. Take all at their word and punish them for any and all breaches of contract. Take the duty of being a greater being seriously and guard the world from those who would seek to shake it to its foundations. The laws are there for the greater good, and the law is superior to the needs of an individual.

As Ariel twitches and convulses on the ground, Elise bashes the final skeleton off of her without suffering any further wounds. The door next to her shudders with increased weight being thrown at it, but it will hold for now. She rushes to Hadrian and Reina who prepare to face the oncoming rush of the Countess. (D)

What is the battle plan for the Countess?

1. Straight forward battle, try to kill her old school style.

2. Aim primarily to disable but not kill, try to hit the skull necklace.

3. Try to delay or distract the Countess and then have Elise run over to the necromancer's wand and try to figure out its use. Maybe it has a 'ghoul-off' switch or something.

4. (Suggest your own battleplan, utilizing the elf, paladin, and kitty priestess)
 
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MrMe

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

A3 - can she still play her flute?
B2/1
C2/3

D2
 
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BlueSlime

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

A3 - can she still play her flute?
B2/1
B2/3

D2
Yes, in all three body choices, Ariel is still a bard and cans till play her flute and sing.
 

sturm

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

A 3
B 3
C 3
D 1

For the record, you're doing a great job with this CYOA! One of my favorites!
 

maxentius-septimus

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

A3 or 2 could work but I'm not sure what the benefit is. Thanks for explaining. It seems like Ariel is in need of an offensive boost. There seems to be a lot of support for 3 but if somebody votes for 2 I might support that.
B3 2 would be ok also.
C3 1 wouldn't be bad either.


D2. 3 would be my backup.
 
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BlueSlime

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

A3 2 could work but I'm not sure what the benefit is.
It was meant to be an option that would still allow Ariel to remain in her human appearance. The other options will be visually obvious. This option would be thermoceptively obvious.

Not a lot of people are all that cool with humanoids walking around with scaly skin or horns-tail-claw combo.

Also I suppose if you're in a cold temperature area, you and your companions won't need a campfire.
 

tomaito89

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

A3, B1, C3. And D1, kill her with fire. or bludgeoning. Or impaling, slicing-and-dicing, or holy hand grenades. Just so long as she dies, but permanent-like.
 
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BlueSlime

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Re: Dungeon Crawl

Winning choices are: A3, B1, C3, and D2

Your body heaves as the dragon song inside of you reaches its crescendo. The spell threatens to consume you, and instinctively you add your inner voice to the song, singing with it to become a part of its harmony. In doing so you save yourself, but become inextricably bound to the dragon song - and it changes you mind, body and soul.

The nerves in your head and spine are set alight with a mixture of pain and ecstasy. Your forehead splits in two points, from which a pair of horns emerge, and your tailbone ruptures through your skin as more and more vertebrae are added to your body, forming a red-scaled tail. Your fingers and toes become sharpened claws, and your blood roils through you as though it were elemental fire.

Looking at the claws and tail, and then feeling your new horns tenderly, you are shocked, but not unafraid of your transformation. Indeed, you immediately perceive them as an improvement. What an ugly, dull thing you must have been before. Now you are a vision of predatory beauty. Surely all will understand this just by glimpsing you.

Your very nature has also changed - it cannot express it in any meaningful way at this very moment, but you still perceive the change. You feel older in spirit, wiser. A moment ago you had been a naive thing that followed her heart. Now you have perspective... a blessing of being able to see things in the long term. A single mortal life pales in comparison to the greater order of things. You are certain that you will make decisions differently from now on.

It is after reconciling your new nature and then resolving to stand up that you realize you are still very, very injured. Your transformation has not healed your wounds, and you grow angry at the insult to your otherwise beautiful visage. How dare this necromancer have marred your perfect form?

You look up to see where he went and just in time to see him fly away on his giant bat into the stormy night.

---

"We must destroy her," Reina says, scrambling for her bow and arrows that have been cast indifferently to the side of the room.

"She was innocent in all this, but it is true. What she has become is an abomination," Hadrian says, gripping his sword tight.

"No!" Elise insists. "She's still being controlled. The skull token around her neck, it has something to do with it. She isn't like the ghouls that we met in the temple. Aim for it if you can, we may yet be able to save her."

"She may not give us a chance to be so merciful," Reina mutters.

As if on cue, the Countess lunges forward, aiming to take out the most dangerous target: the injured, grim-faced paladin. On and on she presses her attack, her flailing claws raking against the griffon emblazoned shield. Hadrian's strength of arms does not fail him in his moment of need, and though the Countess' might ecplises his own, he deflects her direct attacks, glancing them to one side or another, and then slashes when he finds his opening.

A strike of his longsword aims for the skull medallion, but the small target is difficult to slash. He ends up drawing a gout of blood from the Countess instead.

Retrieving her bow and arrows, Reina crouches low and takes aim, waiting for the paladin to separate for a split second so as to give her a shot at the mystical token. The elf breathes in, preparing herself. She drowns out the noise of the storm, the weird song that Ariel seems to be humming in her delirium, and the raking and pounding of the barred door. It all goes silent. She exhales. The bowstring is loosed, and the dart sails through the air to its target.

In a flash of green fire, the arrow buries itself in the eye of the skull token, immediately becoming set alight. The Countess howls in agony and backs away from Hadrian, her form starting to light on fire as well.

"Eayyyyaahhh! It burrrnsss!" She screams, in a human voice that no ghoul should be able to make.

Elise narrows her lynx eyes, and her link to the divine takes over. The skull token is what powers the sorcery that has warped the countess, this secret is plain to her now. But it is a trap and a ward - its destruction will kill the wearer. In order to save the countess, the spell must be undone - no, not undone, unlocked.

Elise succeeds in her divination roll.

The lynx priestess looks to the necromancers wand. She concentrates and scries the secrets of its origin and use. Understanding washes over her, and she rushes to clutch the arcane device in her hands.

"The wand is the key! It was used to bind the spell to her!" She shouts, scooping the wand up and brandishing it at the countess. "And it can be used to break it as well!"

The countess falls to the ground, burning in eldritch flame and crying out in agony as Reina's arrow destabilizes the magic of the curse.

"Quickly then, Elise!" Hadrian says, standing over the fallen countess and holding his sword towards her, just in case.

---

You are watching all this occur when the door behind you gives way. Ghouls begin to poor in, followed closely by Osvar, the necromancer's acolyte. When he sees you, he does a double take. Recognizing you to be the woman he cleaned up not long ago, yet seeing the obvious changes.

You stand before him, mostly nude, for between the skeletons and your metamorphosis, the already torn dress had taken all the damage it could sustain. Instead of shying away, you raise your chin slightly and hold his gaze.

"Do you like what you see?" You ask.

"You should have stayed put, wench. Now you'll just be food for my ghouls." Osvar points at you. "Kill her!"

You prepare to sell your life dearly, refusing to bow to this onslaught or run from it, but just as the ghouls are upon you they skitter to a stop and groan as they simultaneously bow low. It's absurd and almost as if they are worshiping you. You don't mind this so much, but of course you would prefer worshipers to smell better and be less dead.

"Wha-what are you doing!? Kill her, you imbeciles! Fight! You serve D'Graz! You serve me!" Osvar shouts to no avail.

"No." Christobel says, her body burned, cut, and still a vision of undeath, but no longer wearing the skull token. Elise had removed it with the wand just in time it seemed, for now the Countess had arisen with a new purpose.

"They serve me. I was their rightful ruler in life. In this undeath that your master has granted me, they once again show their loyalty."

Slowly, the ghouls turn away from you, now hissing and flicking their tongues out as they creep closer to Osvar. The acolyte's eyes widen and he puts out his hands to ward them away.

"No! This is impossible!" He takes a step back. Then another.

"They can no longer speak," the Countess continues. "Your tortures saw to that. But I will speak for them. They remember, Osvar. They remember every cut of your knife, every twist of your vise. They remember you presiding over their moment of agonizing death with no release."

The Countess' haunted eyes never leave the acolyte as her burned form lurches forward and she raises a damning finger at the acolyte.

"They remember you, Osvar."

The acolyte's face has paled as though he were already a ghost. A frightened unintelligible gurgle escapes his throat. He shakes his head and trembling hands as the ghouls he had just been leading now creep up to him, their eyes filled with hate. He takes a final step back, his heel catching only air as his retreat sends him down the staircase. As he falls, he screams, and a wave of ghouls follow him down, leaping, growling, slavering, hungry for a final revenge. Unfortunately for Osvar, you can tell by his further screams that the initial tumble did not kill him.

---

The four adventurers stand at the top of the tower, face to face with the Countess, Christobel. The curse of the necromancer persists beyond the release of the skull token. Her soul lies somewhere between the living and the dead, but due to the unique nature of her enchantment, and the secrets through which the mysterious Elise unbound her with the necromancer's wand, she is able to speak and control herself. Rather than a mindless killer, she displays a grasp of emotions and holds no ill will against Hadrian or his comrades for what she saw.

"D'Graz was behind all the woes of Barrowbridge from the moment he set foot in our keep," she explains somberly. "He experimented with creating ghouls, and was training his apprentice Osvar in the techniques of his necromancy. Knowing that he would be discovered eventually, he decided to gain a hold over my husband by cursing me with a necromantic spell. To my husband, it was as if I had suddenly fallen very ill. I couldn't speak, I faded in and out of consciousness, but I heard enough to know what had occurred. D'Graz had appeared as if by good fortune and claimed that he could save me if only he had a mystic book said to be kept within a nearby temple. My husband, the poor fool, believed in D'Graz, and for his love for me, he granted the necromancer men with which he could attempt to retrieve the book. He turned them into ghouls and sent them into the temple, but the traps there must have thwarted them. Too cowardly to face the temple personally, he convinced my husband to hire adventurers - you - to retrieve the book.

"My husband had begun to have his doubts about D'Graz, especially as my condition worsened. I refused normal food, and I was clearly entering into a foul and cursed state. My husband had a family heirloom, an enchanted quill made by the fae which could create a mystically binding contract. A geas. He forced D'Graz to agree to restore me or he would be executed. D'Graz had no choice and consented to the contract - and he was forced to come up with an alternate plan, for this curse of mine is permanent. The only way to restore me to life would be to transfer my very soul to another body - a blasphemous technique that he said would be described within the book that he wanted.

"Originally, the captured elf was to be my new body, but my husband is not partial to elvenkind. He wanted an heir eventually and a half-breed would still be scandalous. I believe he would have preferred a human body - something that you might have provided, before..."

She waves her hand at you, and you bristle, waiting for her to insult your now amazing body. She doesn't however, and you decide to grant her the benefit of the doubt.

"I think, in the end, my husband's love for me caused him to do unforgivable things. He allowed D'Graz to continue to create ghouls, even after he discovered shades of the terrible truth. He was blinded into saving my soul at the cost of anything or anyone else. I could never tell him because of D'Graz' medallion that bound me to his will, but I would much rather my husband had lived as an honest and righteous man, than to have fallen for my sake."

"What will you do now?" You ask her.

"That will depend on the four of you," she answers. "I will not deny that I am now a creature of undeath. I have unnatural hungers. I hope and pray that I can manage them somehow, but I am not ready to follow my husband unto the Black Gates of Death. I wish to remain here, provide for my people, both the living, and the ghouls who remain. Many of them were innocents. Beneath the fog of their bestial states, I can hear them, speak with them, and I can command them. A glimmer of their true selves remain. Perhaps with time and freedom from the necromancers, their personalities can return."

Hadrian sighs, his conflict written clearly on his face. Reina as well seems to find this situation distasteful.

"Even if you are of sound mind, it does not mean that you will have control over your unnatural hungers," the elf says.

"Aye," Hadrian concurs. "The foul necromancy that sustains you is evil magic. It would be a mercy to grant you death."

"Perhaps," Christobel says. "But as I said. I am not ready to die, and you are all quite injured after your efforts. I am appreciative of what you have done, and I will see you rested and rewarded for it. However, if you choose to press your attack, I and my followers will defend ourselves. I leave the choice to you, and will not blame you if you hold to your convictions. I cannot know how this curse will affect me going forward, all I can say is that I will try to rule these lands as I would have done in life. I will be a just and fair ruler."

The four of you share a look and then come together to make a decision.

1. Do not fight her, accept her offer of rest and reward.

2. Do not fight her, but leave this keep behind you. Too many bad memories and besides, it's now run by ghouls.

3. Tell her that you cannot suffer the undead to roam free. Necromancy is always evil and will propagate more evil. You must fight her, even injured as you are.

4. (suggest your own option)

Note: Because you are now lawful in alignment, you are unable to agree to any plan that would have you double back on your word. Hadrian is also of the same bent on this. So if you're going to fight her, you'll do so without rest or healing.
 
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